Motorsports

Gordon wins wild one

Jeff Gordon overcomes a bad restart after Ryan Newman spins in front of him.

By KELLIE DIXON, Times Staff Writer
Published October 14, 2007

CONCORD, N.C. - Jeff Gordon padded his lead in the Chase for the Nextel Cup with a win in Saturday's Bank of America 500.

With the win, the four-time Cup champion also erased five bad memories. Gordon, who started the race fourth, had not finished at Lowe's Motor Speedway in five straight races.

Chase contenders Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch, Jeff Burton and Carl Edwards rounded out the top five.

Jimmie Johnson, a five-time winner at Lowe's Motor Speedway, maintained second place in points with a 14th-place finish. He dropped from the lead before the halfway point with car trouble and fell 68 points behind teammate Johnson.

Gordon, who led four times for 72 laps, had built up a decent lead when the 14th caution of the night went out. Soon after, NASCAR red-flagged the race for 12 minutes and 6 seconds. As officials worked to clean oil off the track, Gordon's lead was reduced to just inches in front of another teammate and Chase contender, Busch.

That made at least one person nervous. Owner Rick Hendrick radioed Busch with a clear message - no wrecks. Consider the big picture, he encouraged Busch. Busch, who will join Joe Gibbs Racing in 2008, had made it clear that he feels like an outsider at Hendrick Motorsports.

"He said, 'Be cool. We don't need any wrecked race cars. If Jeff feels like you've got a run on him, he'll let you go,'" Busch recalled after the race. "I've had that before. It's all good. I get told a lot of things to do. I'm used to it."

Busch didn't agree to Hendrick's request, and on the restart he challenged Gordon. While the duo battled, pole-sitter Ryan Newman zipped past to take the lead. But his time in front was short-lived. By the time Newman crashed into the wall, Busch had lost momentum.

The view just seemed to keep improving for Bowyer. He climbed from his 25th starting position to the top 10 within the first 40 laps. He was sitting in third when the race was red-flagged, and there was the possibility of the Hendrick drivers wiping each other out. When Newman crashed, a surprised Bowyer slid into second.

"Looked to me like (Newman) was going to go win his first race of the year and then whammy," Bowyer said.

Newman wasn't the only driver to get smacked around by the track.

Ultimately there were 15 cautions for 62 laps. Eight of the 15 cautions were the result of wrecks in Turn 4 and Turn 2.

One of those wrecks involved Johnson, who early on looked like he could run to his sixth win at LMS. But he had his share of problems. He fell out of the lead on Lap 160 when his car started overheating. He pitted and his crew got hung up working on a spring rubber. Johnson had led six times for 95 laps, but the long pit stop sent him back to 29th in the field and on Lap 232 he nicked the wall at Turn 2.

Johnson, consoled by his calm crew chief Chad Knaus, climbed back into the top 10 a few times before falling to 14th. But he met the same goal Gordon had - finish the race.

Stewart also needed to be comforted halfway into the race. He cursed and called the non-Chase contenders weapons after he brushed up against Paul Menard while trying to leave his pit stall. Before he could get out, Kasey Kahne came in on the right and nicked Stewart's ride. Stewart, who was set to run in the top 10, T-boned Kahne and dropped deep into the field.

[Last modified October 14, 2007, 01:22:21]